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In Bergen County executive race, Bridgegate is an issue for at least one candidate

JamesTedescoNov5MylesMaNJ-com.jpeg

James Tedesco, a Democrat fresh from winning a seat on the Bergen County Freeholder board, seen here on election night, Nov. 5, is now running for county executive. His campaign has been based in part on criticism of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and of Republican incumbent County Executive Kathleen Donovan, a former Port Authority chairman.
(Myles Ma/nj.com)

"You have to question, with her time there at the Port Authority, and the culture that we’ve seen there, has that culture now spread to the Bergen County executive’s office.”

Bergen County Freeholder James Tedesco’s fight against the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, including an effort to form a coalition of host communities to leverage their collective clout, has become a central element of his bid for county executive this November.

To Tedesco, a Democrat and former Paramus mayor, how county officials react to September’s George Washington Bridge lane closures is not only valid for Bergen voters to consider this fall, it is particularly relevant for the Republican incumbent, County Executive Kathleen Donovan, a former Port Authority chairman.

Donovan, now seeking her second term, was named chairman of the Port Authority Board of Commissioners by Gov. Christie Whitman in 1994, and, after stepping down as chair in 1995 to run unsuccessfully for Congress, she remained a commissioner until 2002.

Despite her combined experience presiding over the Port Authority and representing commuters and others impacted by the traffic-snarling lane closures, Tedesco says Donovan has failed to speak out strongly against the closures.

“Her silence has been very deafening,” Tedesco said. “I attribute it to the politics on her side. And you have to question, with her time there at the Port Autority, and the culture that we’ve seen there, has that culture now spread to the Bergen County executive’s office.”

By politics, Tedesco meant that Donovan was aligned with Republican Gov. Chris Christie, whose administration has been implicated in the lane closures’ planning and execution, and whose own Port Authority chairman, David Samson, is a target of the widening investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark.

But Donovan’s chief of staff, Jeanna Baratta, said the Donovan publicly condemned the lane closures when she learned of them. She noted that several investigations are already underway, “and anything that anyone tries to do or say is merely grandstanding.”

Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan, who is running for re-election this November, has been accused by her Democratic opponent of failing to speak out strongly against September's George Washington Bridge local access lane closures. Donovan, a former Port Authority chairman, is shown here in 2011 with fellow Gov. Chris Christie, a fellow Republican.
Jennifer Brown/The Star-Ledger

Bergen County Republican Chairman Robert Yudin, who condemned the lane closures, called Tedesco’s assertions that Donovan had not spoken out as, “outrageous poppycock.”

“I ask the voters to pay no attention to the propaganda coming from Mr. Tedesco,” he said.

“Every candidate who runs for office runs on the basis of their record,” he said. “It seems to me that with someone who has knowledge of the Port Authority, who has insight into operations of the Port Authority, if I was a voter I would want someone who has that expertise to shed some light on the situation.”

On March 5, Bergen’s Democrat-controlled freeholder board passed a resolution sponsored by Tedesco calling on Samson to resign. On Wednesday, the board approved another Tedesco resolution, this one calling on the Port Authority to abide by a “Host Community Bill of Rights.” It would include monthly meetings attended by representatives of the agency and of New Jersey municipalities and counties where Port Authority facilities are located.

Earlier on Wednesday, Tedesco appeared before the Port Authority Board of Commissioners at its regular meeting, held in Jersey City, to inform commissions that the freeholders would take up the host committee bill of rights that evening.

Tedesco said he hoped the monthly meeting would be the basis for a standing coalition to include Fort Lee, Teterboro, Newark, Jersey City, Bayonne Elizabeth, Linden and Perth Amboy, Egg Harbor Township, well as Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Union, Middlesex and Atlantic counties, which he said could leverage their combined clout in negotiations with the Port Authority.

“We’re stronger as a group than as individual municipalities or counties,” he said.

But Donovan’s chief of staff, Jeanna Baratta, said the freeholders had overreached with the host communities resolution because the Port Authority is legally bound only by laws approved by the two state legislatures and signed by both governors.

The Port Authority released a statement on Thursday that left open the possibility of a monthly meeting with host community representatives.

A strong relationship with our host communities is critical to ensuring that the Port Authority meets its core mission of building, operating and maintaining critical transportation infrastructure and serving as an economic engine for the region," the statement read. "We will continue to work with each community to ensure that their voices are heard and their concerns are addressed."